Indonesian Police Boost IT Capacity to Combat Online Child Sexual Exploitation
The Directorate of Crimes for the Protection of Women and Children and the Eradication of Human Trafficking (PPA-PPO) at the National Police’s Criminal Investigation Department (Bareskrim) is continuously enhancing the capacity of personnel with expertise in information technology (IT).
Kombes Pol. Ema Rahmawati, Head of the Sub-Directorate for Operations at the PPA-PPO Directorate, stated that increasing investigators’ capacity is crucial given the high rate of cybercrimes related to sexual violence and sexual exploitation of children in the digital realm. “That is why we continue to improve the capacity of personnel who are IT experts,” she said during a podcast in Jakarta on Monday.
She noted that the Indonesian National Police receives approximately 1.5 million pieces of information annually regarding child-related cybercrimes from the NCMEC (The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children) Cybertipline. This figure places Indonesia third in Asia for the highest number of cybercrime tips received.
Ema explained that out of the 1.5 million tips, only dozens are followed up due to limited personnel and because the shared data and information are often unclear. The information provided typically consists of content containing child sexual exploitation, sometimes accompanied by an IP address and mobile phone IMEI, but it remains difficult to trace.
“Sometimes the information is minimal, just a video. Indeed, there is an IP address, or perhaps a mobile phone IMEI, but after that, the phone number is no longer active, the social media account is gone, because sometimes these platforms conduct their own cyber patrols,” she said.
She revealed another obstacle is that the criminal acts often occurred a long time ago, such as a report from a 2019 incident. After coordination and investigation, the victim’s whereabouts no longer matched the address or they had moved. “No matter how sophisticated our technology is, if the information hits a dead end, it is difficult to uncover the case,” she stated.
She cited an example where a victim was detected to be in West Java, but when investigators arrived at the location, the road to the victim’s house was unpaved and had to be traversed by trail motorbike. “We searched for the information, there was a name, we searched at the nearest police sector, among the community, and when we found the house, it was extremely remote,” she explained.
In handling cybercrimes involving children, the PPA-PPO Directorate also collaborates with the Cyber Directorate of Bareskrim Polri. Additionally, the PPA-PPO Directorate works with other non-governmental organisations and foreign NGOs to help improve investigators’ competencies regarding child exploitation in the digital space.